The State is beginning to experience the pinch of the shortage of Covishield vaccine amid increasing turnout at the vaccination centres.
Covid-19 vaccine (representational image)
Depleting stock of Covishield vaccine, which has led to the interruption of inoculation drive, has hindered the State’s COVID managers’ ongoing campaign mode vaccination programme in the State.
The State is beginning to experience the pinch of the shortage of Covishield vaccine amid increasing turnout at the vaccination centres.
The shortage of vaccines has emerged as a major stumbling block as the coastal State embarked on a campaign mode to intensify the COVID-19 inoculation ahead of the possible outbreak of the third wave of the pandemic.
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The State could inoculate only 49,000 people on Wednesday as against 3 lakh daily vaccine recipients recorded last week. As the vaccine stock has gone dry, we were forced to suspend the vaccination initiative in 16 of the 30 districts of the State on Thursday. The shortage of vaccine doses is a worrying development at a time when the government has resolved to administer double doses of vaccine on a war footing, said Director Family Welfare, Bijay Panigrahi, who is supervising the vaccination programme in the State.
The entire State barring the capital city is on the verge of going dry as we are left with only 19,000 Covishield vaccines to cater to 30 districts. Situation in Bhubaneswar is better with an adequate stock of 3 lakh Covaxin vaccines. We are expecting the dispatch of one lakh Covishield vaccine from the centre in the next 24 hours. If the stock does not reach, the vaccination programme may altogether come to a grinding halt in the State. Bhubaneswar may however be an exception, he said.
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